It was one of those typical days at work where you blindly perform your duties, yet can't help thinking of something else. In my case it was the building of my airplane. I was mentally going over my next major task, marveling at how fast the build was going and thinking that nothing could stop me now. Well, I was wrong. I was startled out of my deep and pleasant thoughts by the irritating sound of my wall-mounted phone. I picked up the receiver and mustered up my most professional tone of voice. "Three-eighty-three this is Ron."
On the other end of the line I could faintly hear a soft, sweet, feminine whimper say. "Hi Daddy."
"Oh, I'm sorry sweetheart, I'm not your Daddy. You must have the wrong number."
Then the voice returned much clearer this time. "No. You're going to be a Daddy." Now this voice was starting to sound a little familiar, but I still had to ask.
"OK. Who is this?"
"It's your wife…"
Oh @#$%. I thought. This was going to drastically change the projected finish date of the Eindecker. She sounded like she was getting nervous about my lack of response.
She asked. "Are you still there?"
I was mentally calculating the numbers. Let's see here. Six months…Add 150%, no wait better make that two or maybe even 300%.
"Yeah, I'm still here. Hold on." Ok…carry the three and…yep…we're looking at a major set back here. Ok dummy. You better start some fast-talking.
"I'm just stunned at the idea of being a father." Hope she buys that. What's this mean here, two maybe three years added to the build time?
"You don't sound too happy about it."
Uh oh, she's not buying it….
"I'm just shocked dear. You caught me completely off guard."
Truth is, I was extremely excited and, at the same time, terribly nervous about the change that had suddenly affected our lives. With this being our first child, I was feeling the pressure of stepping off into the unknown realm of parenthood, while at the same time building myself a toy airplane. My priorities had switched in a matter of seconds. I can't say that I would have had it any other way.
With the fuselage framed and sitting upside down on the worktable I started the fabrication of the main landing gear. This gear has bungee type shock struts and a weird but authentic looking array of down tubes and compression struts with drag, anti-drag cables that tie the mess together. I felt as though I would need to design a set of differential brakes so that I may further enjoy my taxi pleasure rather than suffer the stress of running down any poor unfortunate soul who happened to be in the immediate area of operation. Georgia runways do not often offer long flat surfaces for ones landing adventures. We usually have to land and or taxi on sloping surfaces that can be quite steep for a plane without brakes. This particular design was not originally equipped with brakes and, so therefore, neither is the kit version. I sat down and started head scratching for ideas. A friend of mine had already designed and built a set of hubs that would bolt an external "go-cart" style brake drum to the Workman wheels that come equipped in the kit. All I needed to do was to route the cables to the cockpit and figure out how to actuate them. I figured that I could work a simple set of heel brakes just inboard of the rudder pedals. I bought some go-cart external brakes and throttle cables from Northern and headed home with my twenty-dollar brake system. I welded up some small heel brake pedals and mounted them on the same hinge line where the rudder pedals were located. Soon I had a cheap and effective set of differential brakes installed on my modern day Eindecker.
As slow as the building was going for my Eindecker, I was still making some progress and was determined to complete and fly the airplane as soon as possible. It was hard to find time during the first year after my daughter's birth but I continued, as time would allow. Due to the fact that I was building the airplane in my basement directly under her room, I was at the mercy of her many naps. Every time that I seemed to get motivated and or deeply involved in the build, I'd hear the basement door swing open followed by the awful progress stopping sound of my wife saying, "I'm putting the baby to bed." That pretty much put a stop on anything related to building an airplane, so I just concentrated on my flight lessons.
I had been performing my solo flights like a good little aviator and doing fairly well, so Doug decided that I was ready for the next phase of my training. He told me to plan a cross-country flight from South Fulton (8A9) to Baldwin County (MLJ) then to Thomaston (OPN) with an alternate airport of my choice. I broke out the books and my sectional chart and proceeded to create a flight plan, picking the various visual points along route, to show off my fine pilotage skills. Doug told me to not to worry about anything after our first leg as we would stop and plan the second leg together. I filed our flight plan with flight service and performed a preflight on the plane. We left the airport at midday and received a brutal low level turbulence butt whipping for the entire flight to MLJ. The thermals on this day were very heavy creating quite the bumpy ride. It was the type of day where the plane doesn't merely just swing and bump like a boat floating on the waves. No, it was one of those days where the crashing jolts have you looking out to see if you still have wings. You know, the days where you finally get the plane on the ground and your kidneys are sitting in the seat beside you, or when you might be in need of a liver transplant. So, with my sectional in one hand, the yoke in the other and a barf bag within easy reach, we trudged toward our first destination. For those wondering exactly what navigating by pilotage is, I'll give a brief explanation. This form of navigation is merely following a route by a visual reference between what you see on the ground as compared to what is drawn on a sectional chart. Sectional charts contain key features such as power lines, lakes, railroads, rivers and other visually identifiable landmarks that a pilot can use to determine his location. The idea is to pick a route that will have easily identifiable points along the way. I didn't do that. We ended up flying a number of miles over some very dense forest, which really makes it hard to determine where exactly you are on the sectional chart. Despite the flying conditions I managed to stay on track and actually flew straight to and found the airport with ease…or luck.
After we landed I gathered my kidneys, charts and other navigation devices that were spread out through the cockpit and headed for the pilots lounge. There I closed our flight plan and together we worked up another one for the next flight leg. Doug told me that we wouldn't be activating this plan as we headed out to brave the turbulence. It wasn't until later that I figured out why.
Once airborne and while receiving our beating Doug was chatting away about various things that I assumed was designed to divert my attention, or rather to see if he could, from my task at hand. Noticing that I was far too skilled to let my mind wander from my piloting duties he seemed to give up. A few minutes of silence went by before he turned to me and said.
"You look bored"
"What are you talking about? I'm not bored. We're sitting here at 4500 ft getting our butts whipped. Now how can I be bored? Scared maybe, but not bored"
"Uh…No, You look bored. Here put this on."
He reached behind the seat and produced the dreaded hood.
Man, I hate it when I look bored.
After securing the hood tightly to my head I proceeded to follow my corrected heading accounting for wind drift, compass deviation, variation, error and all the other crap associated with compass deficiencies. After a half hour or so Doug looks over and says.
"Where are you going?"
"Umm…Thomaston?" I said.
"It's not this way."
So while franticly scanning my chart I pointed at the position I mentally calculated as our probable location. He then said that we were lost and I need to figure out exactly where we were. So I started to put the flight instruments to work in Three Four Echo. I tuned into Macon's VOR or Very high frequency Omni Range. This is a radio navigation aid that will display a number in degrees on the instrument that the pilot can use to determine his position on the chart. When the VOR frequency for the particular station is selected, the instrument will give a heading where the pilot can track directly to or from the selected station. With this information, he can draw a line on the sectional chart along the heading indicated and he will know that his airplane is somewhere along this reference line. He will then select another nearby VOR station frequency and repeat the process using this station at a different location located on the chart. Where the two drawn lines intersect is exactly where the plane is located on the chart and is known as triangulation. From there he can compute his heading and distance from his intended destination. Drawing a straight line along your chart when the plane is shaking itself to pieces by the turbulence is quite a challenge, but this is how I triangulated our position and proved where we were and that we were indeed on course. Problem was, Doug wasn't through messing with me yet.
"Hey, guess what?" He said.
"What?" I said as I was fighting with my charts and controls at the same time.
"It looks like Thomaston is fogged in. What's your alternate?"
"La Grange." I told him.
I had chosen La Grange (LGC) as an alternate airport just incase there was a problem getting into Thomaston and I would have all information available without having to look it up in flight. I turned to a heading that would take us in the general direction and re-triangulated our position. After ten minutes of flight I performed another triangulation and checked the heading I was flying along. I adjusted my heading to intercept LGC and sat back scanning my instruments like a good boy. Apparently, I wasn't finished.
Doug said. "Ok, what's out estimated time of arrival (ETA) and time in route (ETE)?"
I had marked the time when I triangulated the first location after the turn and then measured the distance I had flown prior to the next triangulation within the ten minutes noted. From this information I could computed my ground speed, position and distance from the airport. I then could figure out when and how long it would take me to fly to the airport given I maintained a constant speed. With the computations complete, we shook, rattled and rolled all the way to LGC and actually made it when I predicted we would. Once at La Grange Doug decided I had enough.
He said. "I'm tired. Take me home the easiest was you know how."
As I started to remove my hood he said.
"But keep the hood on."
Well…So much for the easiest way home.
I decided that the best way for me to make it back blind would be to tune in to Atlanta's VOR and tune into a Radial line heading that intersected our home airport. This explains the variable part of the VOR. This particular instrument will not only show you the direct route to the VOR location, but it can be adjusted to direct you on a heading that will cross any point within its radio range. I adjusted the variable knob to a heading of 062 degrees that I knew would take me over our home airport by reference of the sectional chart. From that information I flew to on a north heading until my instruments showed that I was approaching the 062-degree heading I needed. I then turned onto the heading and marked the time. After ten minutes I selected another station and triangulated my position. I then once again calculated my ground speed, ETA and ETE. When Doug instructed me to remove my hood I found I was right on the money. I had spent about three hours that day flying under the hood. Although I was stressed, tired and in desperate need of a nap, there was no denying that I had learned some valuable lessons that day. I knew that getting lost would no longer be an issue.
Next project on the Eindecker was to fabricate and install the vertical down tube for the rudder as well as square and mount the elevator. Being a little on the side of anal retentive, I had all types of measuring devices set up to make sure the tail would be installed as square and true as possible. I had strings attached to the mount tube of the elevator that were measured to a specific length in thousandths of an inch and measured to the aft carry through spar on each side of the fuselage so that when the elevator was permanently mounted, it wouldn't be set at an angle askew of the fuselage and wings. The problem is that a string will stretch and although I measured in thousandths, I really didn't get that kind of precision by using a piece of string. I tried to match the tension on the string and left it at that. I then leveled the fuselage and then proceeded to level the elevator mount tube on its lateral plane as well. Once finished with all this monkey motion and having checked the dimensions multiple times, I drilled my first hole. I then checked the dimensions again and once satisfied that the whole mess didn't move I drilled my second hole. This routine continued until I was finished drilling all holes and had it securely mounted on the fuselage. Sickening, isn't it? I then proceeded to install the down tube for the rudder and tail wheel assembly. A simple square was used to set it 90 degrees to the elevator mount tube. By adding the half inch tubes that are used to triangulate the structure, I was soon finished with the tail assembly and ready to mount the tail wheel, control surfaces and start working on engine and instrument installation. Problem was I needed an engine and instruments but sometimes, when you wait long enough, things fall in your lap, as did my engine.
One day when I was finished practicing my skills in Three Four Echo, I returned to the airport and set up for my pattern entry. As I turned final and was descending for landing I noticed someone walking along the runway. Not along the side mind you, this guy was in the middle and didn't have a clue that I was creeping up behind him at 70 mph. I decided, due to my lack of experience, to abort the landing and not try to land short to miss him. As I flew over he waved and moved over to continue his exercise off the runway. I returned to the pattern, landed and as I was tying down the airplane he came over to talk. He was telling about all his cool toys and I happened to mention that I too had a cool toy that I was building in the basement. He asked if I had an engine for it and proceeded to inform me that he had the perfect engine if I needed one. I asked what he had and he said it was a Rotax 503 that was sporting only 5 hours of run time. He was right. This was the very engine I was looking for and he had it for a song. It turned out that even though the engine had only 5 hours it still managed to achieve a disturbing history. The engine was equipped with fan cooling and a pusher prop that had both blades cut off about a foot and a half from the hub. I enquired as to the prop modification and asked what airplane it was on before. He said that he had a friend that lost his medical due to a heart condition and decided to build a Kolb ultralight as he didn't want to quit flying. I could understand that but this story was starting to look as though it was going to get real grim, real quick. He said that after a two and a half hour break-in they took the plane out for its first flight. It happened to fly beautifully on the test hop and a few days later his friend went to the airport to fly the new Kolb a little more. Later that afternoon the guy's wife called to say that he had not returned and she was getting concerned. After a brief aerial search, he found his friend's plane perched in the tops of tall trees not far from the airport. Apparently, his friend suffered a massive coronary and the plane came to rest in the nearby woods. The authorities had to take bolt cutters and a saw to cut the plane into smaller pieces so they could get it down though the trees.
We had chatted for a little while longer and I was getting kind of a weird feeling about putting an engine on my plane with a history that's eerily reminiscent of Eastern Airline's "Ghost of Flight 409". When we got around to the amount he wanted for the engine and that it was for the widow, I found that it was an offer I couldn't refuse.
I looked but never found this accident listed in the NTSB records and I didn't ask for the guys name but I sometimes wonder if he isn't somehow looking over me from time to time. The engine has run flawlessly. And well…sometimes I can get a little stupid and may need a little looking after on occasion.
With my newly purchased engine in hand I rushed home to start the firewall and motor mount construction so that I could hang the engine on the airplane. The motor mount comes pre-welded for the Rotax engine installation that helps take some head scratching out of mounting the engine. Within short order I had the engine hanging, undercarriage mounted and tail group attached to a large portion of the pile of tubes that come in this kit. This thing was starting to resemble an airplane.
The wings on this airplane are built up using the same method as the fuselage. There are large round tubes for the forward and aft spars and half-inch tubes for the ribs. The forward and aft spars are connected together by two compression struts and squared with "drag, anti-drag cables". With the plans blown up to full scale I started to build the wooden buck I needed to bend the upper and lower ribs. I rough cut the plywood with a jig saw and sanded it to the contour I thought I needed. I then inserted a half-inch tube and pulled it around the wooden buck. After the initial bend I laid the tube on the plans and checked to see how close it was to the rib shown on the drawing. Due to the "spring back" effect of bending aluminum, it became apparent that the buck didn't have enough curvature to allow for the tube to relax to a contour that matched the plans. It was then required that I sand more curve into the buck and try the bend again. This process was continued multiple times until I could pull a tube once over the buck and it would spring back into a perfect fit over the plans. Due to the difference in curvature of both upper and lower wing, I had to repeat the entire process for the lower surface wing ribs. Once all ribs were bent, I had to cope the ends to match the forward spar and attach them to the both spars with gussets. The next job was to bend the wing tip and install it to the wing structure. I used a conduit bender for this process and the results were satisfactory. In a relatively short time I had both wings finished and ready to mount on the plane.
